LITTLE ROCK– It’s the number you call when you have a real emergency. 

It’s easy to dial 911, but the job on the other end isn’t always so easy. 

There are around 120 911 call centers throughout the state.

Some operate for a whole county, others have 911 centers for each agency.

Many professionals argue there are too many locations – they cost too much – and dispatchers have too many jobs.

As the guy on the end of the line threatens to kill responding officers the dispatcher, in a real call from Garland County, stays calm.

“Caller: I got my gun with me.
Dispatcher: What kind of gun do you have?
Caller: A 9mm
Dispatcher: A 9mm what are you gonna do with it?
Caller: I’m gonna kill them b****
Dispatcher: Who you gonna kill?
Caller: The two m**** f**** who arrested me.”

It’s the same calm the people on this end of the line have to keep everywhere and every time, despite the growing responsibilities.

“Whoever answers it first, they’ve got it,” says dispatcher Shirley Russell.

Shirley Russell has dispatched in Conway County for 25 years.

In addition to 911 duties, dispatchers in Conway County cover law enforcement radio dispatch and a stack of responsibilities.

In many counties they’re often fine collectors, administrators and even jailers.

Which creates conflicts when time is of the essence.

“It’s a lot of stress on them,” says State Representative Scott Baltz, “and they’re sitting there in a room that’s about as big as this sidewalk.”

State Representative Scott Baltz co-chairs the legislative Blue Ribbon 911 committee.

The task force looks to improve efficiency.

The biggest problems he says include funding and the number of 911 call centers around the state each county and agency have to pay for.

The Conway County dispatch is the only PSAP, or Public Safety Access Point, for all of Conway County and 21 separate agencies.

Meaning every 911 call for the area comes here, regardless of location in the county.

“The first thing I ask is where are they,” says Russell.

Because when every second counts, getting there is what really matters.

“With the way were set up here with one PSAP for the county, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Menifee or Jerusalem, the call comes in to here,” says Steve Beavers.

An example, according to 911 Administrator Steve Beavers, of what works for them. 

But that’s not how it is across the state.

“Jacksonville, Sherwood, Maumelle, Little Rock, North Little Rock, State Police, the Sheriff’s Office itself,” says Captain Carl Minden with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office.

There are PSAPs for each of those agencies and more in Pulaski County alone.

“Sometimes it might take a little extra time just trying to figure out who should be responding,” says Minden

Captain Carl Minden explains how sometimes, exact 911 caller locations are hard to come by when a person is in a particular spot.

“You may have three agencies that cover that one little sector,” says Minden.

Often he says a dispatcher will just send someone out and they can sort out who’s responsible later, because what’s important is getting help.

“They do a really good job of doing it with the limited resources that they have,” says Minden.

But Representative Baltz says it doesn’t have to be like that elsewhere in the state.

“If you can shave off two or three minutes on every call, we’ve done our job,” Baltz says.

One possible solution, regionalizing PSAPs for counties with smaller populations, meaning less expenses and less steps to get people the help they need.

For example, Baltz says Randolph County and Lawrence County both have less than 18,000 people. Each funds a dispatch center for well over $100,000 per year.

Combine those though, it becomes a bit like Conway County.

“It’s much less expensive to have one set of equipment and one set of dispatchers,” Beavers says.

For now, each PSAP will wait.

“We’re not going to do it next week or next year,” says the State Representative

As the task force looks for ways to save money, and seconds a 911 dispatcher has to spend finding someone like this.

In a 2014 report, the task force said dispatchers are forced to waste valuable time due to fraudulent calls. 

It also noted the 911 system can no longer be funded through land lines, as 911 calls are overwhelmingly wireless.

It suggested an increase in funding through new phone purchases.

The legislative task force meets again next month and will continue reviewing 911 call centers and develop suggestions ways to improve.